مضى الأحباب يا عيني فجودي

بدمع هامل فوق الخُدودِ

The beloved ones have gone, O my eye; be generous

With tears streaming over the cheeks.

وحُزني قد تمادى في ازدياد

فهل يا صبر قلبي من مَزيد

And my sorrow has kept on increasing;

So, O patience of my heart, is there any more?

وأمسى النوم عن عيني شروداً

فهل عوناً على ردّ الشرود

And sleep has become a fugitive from my eye;

So is there any help in bringing the fugitive back?

توانى حُزن قلبي إذ تولّى

زمان قد تقضّى في سُعود

My heart's sorrow slackened when there passed

A time that had run its course in happiness—

زمان كان شملي في اجتماع

بمَن أهوى على رغم الحسود

A time when I was united

With those I love, despite the envious one.

هُمُ بالأمس في الأوطان كانوا

فصاروا اليوم في جوف اللحود

Yesterday they were in their homelands,

And today they have come to lie in the depths of graves.

فحلّوا في الثرى للدّود أكلاً

وغابوا فيه عن خلّ وَدُود

So they settled in the earth as food for worms,

And vanished within it from a loving friend.

لقد سكروا بكأس الموت حتى

رأوا من سكرهم عدم الوجود

Indeed, they grew drunk from the cup of death, until

Through their drunkenness they beheld nonexistence.

لبُعدهم صفاء العيش أضحى

يُكدّره التفكّر في الورود

Because of their absence, life's serenity has become

Clouded by thoughts of meeting death.

وهذا الأمر قد عمّ البرايا

من الأحرار طُراً والعبيد

And this fate has encompassed all creatures,

Free people, all of them, and slaves.

وليس لنا سوى التسليم حتماً

لأمر اللَه ذي البطش الشديد

And we have nothing but submission, of necessity,

To the decree of God, whose grip is fierce.